Cesar's Way

This morning, when we dropped Daddy off at his office at the Garden, Guinness and I took a stroll through the rose garden area. Guinness was ecstatic! He had a wonderful time sniffing new things in new places. As we approached the main building to exit to the parking lot, he jumped over the wall into the fountain. Apparently, he was very thirsty. We had to enter the foyer dripping wet.

He stayed in his crate while I went to my hair appointment. As I sat all morning, I read more of Cesar Milan’s book. I have not totally bought into his method yet. I know that some things he says are accurate, but I don’t think I have the personality or will to be the “calm assertive” master he advocates that dog owners must be to have “balanced” pets. He says that dogs do not have the capacity to love. What?! I disagree! One of my favorite dog books is Moussaieff’s Dogs Never Lie About Love. Then I read the indicators that your dog is the dominate member of your family pack: 1 – he jumps on you when you come home from work; 2 – he dashes through doorways before you; 3 – he awakens you at 6 AM to go potty. Reading that was very disheartening. If this is true, we will never be the leader of Guinness’s pack. In fact, we have never been the leader of any of our dog's pack. When I take Guinness for walks in a park, such as the Garden today, I put him on a 20 foot lead so that he can have fun smelling delights, have a bit of freedom, and do some running to gain more exercise than if he were to walk at my pace. But I read that that is the wrong thing to do! That allows him to dictate where we roam, placing him as leader of the pack.

My contentment with my dog was damaged. As we ran errands this afternoon, I decided that I needed to make him be on a down/stay each time I left the car to prevent him from trying to jump out with me and to impress upon him that I am the boss. For about 15 minutes, I knelt on the driver’s seat forcing him on a down/stay in the back seat over and over again. Every time I let go of the leash, he reacted like a jack-in-the-box! My left arm became tired from yanking on his leash, and my voice turned raspy. If anyone noticed us, I would hate to know what they were thinking! Finally, I pretended I didn’t notice that he jumped up, and went in the store. At Home Depot, I allowed him to go shopping with me. He was soooo excited. It took all of my reserve strength to lure him to walk with me without charging ahead at top speed. Even when I thought I had him under control, twice as we passed a shopper, he managed to lunge at them for a kiss -- startling for them and embarrassing for me! I expected to be kicked out at any moment.